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'Dhoni under pressure of expectations'

The England player said pressure will always be there on the India captain as he has to shoulder the burden of expectations of a billion people.

Ranchi: England batsman Eoin Morgan on Friday said pressure will always be there on India captain MS Dhoni as he has to shoulder the burden of expectations of a billion people. "I think he [Dhoni] is always going to be under pressure. He is the captain of India and has expectations of 1.2 billion people on his shoulders. He is a captain of a massive nation, so pressure is always going to be there,” Morgan said on the eve of the third ODI.

Morgan said the pressure affects when you're not doing anything. "I think the only way it affects you is when you are not actually doing something. Once you are out there and once you get into the flow, other things become easier. It is certainly different to what we are used to back in England. Playing over here [in India], you get used to the surroundings that revolve around cricket. Cricket in this country is huge, it is indescribably big.

"Everything that surrounds it is fanatical. Again, at this stage, I am quite used to it. Even the trip from the airport to the hotel seeing the streets lined like that just for a team turning up was amazing."

Asked whether Dhoni's injury would help their cause, Morgan said,"You can't pray on anyone getting injured. If you get injured then so be it, these things happen, life goes on."

On the series that is tied 1-1, Morgan said: "Yeah, we can do [win]. I am massive believer in the first game of the series can be the most important because it sets the tone for the rest of the series. The first blow is a bit like a boxing match. Every game is as big as the other. To go 2-1 up would be huge."

Morgan also backed his bowlers who leaked 108 runs in the last 10 overs in Kochi that proved to be difference between both the teams. "They came under a lot of criticism for the last 10 overs given the fact that they were immaculate in the first 40 and set us up perfectly. I think it was just a matter of not executing our plans."

With England hosting the Champions Trophy in June, Morgan said they were making a steady progress. "Our records suggest that. The only blip we have had since Alastair [Cook] took over was the last trip we had here and we learnt a lot of lessons from that."

Morgan said he was keeping his fingers crossed on his future in the upcoming IPL as he would decide after their team selection for the squad against New Zealand. "I was fully centrally contracted last year. So again things won't change and it will be assessed about whether or not I am in the squad from New Zealand if I am going to play the start of the season. If I am on the fringes, obviously things will have to be thought about quite deeply and we will go from there."

"Yeah, I would like to be involved because I have learnt a lot from the IPL. But again, more so I want to be involved in particular this summer. It is two Ashes series and it's what everyone dreams of," he said.

In the wake of the sensational doping revelation by the disgraced former Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, Morgan said the ICC should get its act together. When Asked about India's rigid stance to sign on whereabouts rule of WADA, Morgan said, "To be honest, I didn't know they weren't. It is up to the ICC to take a hands-on approach and force things so everyone is on a level playing ground."

The English batsman however conceded that it's a massive hassle to disclose their diary when they are playing cricket so that they can be tested anywhere in the world. "In the last year or so, I have been tested five or six times. The process by which we are tested, we need to diary everywhere we are and when we are involved in cricket, so we can be tested anytime of the day anywhere in the world. I think it is well-monitored in cricket. At least, the way I understand it.”